Now that you can pay credit card bills online, it is easy to chip away at the bill so to speak as opposed to waiting for the due date to arrive. In the past there were months when the due date rolled around and I just did not have money to pay it. Now I have learned to log on every few days when I have some spare money and just pay $5 or $10 here and there and my bill is never late because I have paid more than what is due by the time the due date rolls around. Has anyone else tried this?
There is a benefit to paying your bills in smaller increments like that, the most obvious one being that you reduce the interest that is applied. I do this to a few items that I have and find that you pay down the balance so much faster. You just have to make sure that you have paid in at least the amount wanted as the minimal payment by that date. Years ago I had a Citibank charge and used to pay in small increments when my husband was on lay off. When we went to buy a house Citi said that we were in arrears because we did not also pay the minimal on the due date. (This was back in the 80's) laws have changed since then, creditors can no longer try to nick you on your credit just because you opt for the smaller increment method. I ended up pulling every cancelled check and bill statement to prove that we had indeed been paying not only regularly but over the minimum they wanted. Just keep track and check it against your bill because they may not itemize each payment you make.
That is a good point Mockingbird and something I do check for as I pay the bill during the month. I do not want to incur late charges if it does not appear as though I paid the bill on time.
I used to do that but to be honest there were times when I would forget, which would mean I would be frantic in trying to catching up. What I do now is I do it every paycheck, so say like I get paid every 2 weeks so when my paycheck gets cleared into my bank, I take a little bit of time during that weekend and pay all my bills and put the appropriate amount into my bills and credit card stuff. That way I won't ever forget about it, and risk getting fined or an interest or something
